Surface emitting laser, information acquiring apparatus, imaging apparatus, laser array, and method of manufacturing surface emitting laser

Abstract

A surface emitting laser having a wide wavelength tunable band is provided. A surface emitting laser includes a first reflecting mirror ( 102 ); a second reflecting mirror ( 116 ); and an active layer ( 104 ) arranged between the first reflecting mirror ( 102 ) and the second reflecting mirror ( 116 ), a gap being formed between the second reflecting mirror ( 116 ) and the active layer ( 104 ), an oscillation wavelength being tunable. The second reflecting mirror ( 116 ) includes a beam ( 108 ) comprising a single-crystal semiconductor, and a dielectric multilayer film ( 110 ) supported by the beam ( 108 ), and the dielectric multilayer film ( 110 ) is arranged in an opening ( 118 ) formed in the beam ( 108 ).

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A surface emitting laser comprising:
 a first reflecting mirror; 
 a second reflecting mirror; and 
 an active layer arranged between the first reflecting mirror and the second reflecting mirror, 
 wherein a gap is formed between the second reflecting mirror and the active layer, 
 wherein an oscillation wavelength is tunable, 
 wherein the second reflecting mirror includes a beam comprising a single-crystal semiconductor and a dielectric multilayer film supported by the beam, and 
 wherein the dielectric multilayer film is arranged in an opening formed in the beam, 
 wherein a surface of the dielectric multilayer film facing the active layer protrudes from the opening toward a side of the active layer with respect to a surface of the beam facing the active layer, and 
 wherein the dielectric multilayer film is arranged continuously from inside the opening to a portion around the opening and on top of the surface of the beam opposite to the surface facing the active layer. 
 
     
     
       2. The surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the surface emitting laser has a semiconductor structure including the active layer, and 
 wherein the semiconductor structure includes a support layer comprising a single-crystal semiconductor configured to support the beam. 
 
     
     
       3. The surface emitting laser according to  claim 2 , wherein the support layer includes a plurality of support layers comprising different single-crystal semiconductors. 
     
     
       4. The surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 , wherein the beam has a thickness that is decreased toward the opening. 
     
     
       5. An information acquiring apparatus comprising:
 the surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 ; and 
 an information acquiring unit configured to acquire information on the inside of a measurement object. 
 
     
     
       6. An imaging apparatus comprising:
 the surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 ; 
 an interference optical system configured to split light from the surface emitting laser into irradiation light that is emitted on a measurement object and reference light, and generate interfering light from reflected light of the light emitted on the measurement object and the reference light; 
 a light detecting unit configured to receive the interfering light; and 
 an information acquiring unit configured to acquire information on the measurement object on the basis of a signal from the light detecting unit. 
 
     
     
       7. A laser array comprising a plurality of surface emitting lasers, wherein at least one of the plurality of surface emitting lasers is the surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
       8. The surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 , wherein the first reflecting mirror, the active layer, and the beam of the second reflecting mirror is a continuous single-crystal semiconductor. 
     
     
       9. The surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 , wherein the single-crystal semiconductor beam is grown continuously from a substrate to the beam. 
     
     
       10. The surface emitting laser according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the following:
 (i) the dielectric multilayer film projects downward or towards the active layer with respect to the opening of the beam; and 
 (ii) the dielectric multilayer film is a dielectric distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). 
 
     
     
       11. A surface emitting laser comprising:
 a first reflecting mirror; 
 a second reflecting mirror; and 
 an active layer arranged between the first reflecting mirror and the second reflecting mirror, 
 wherein the second reflecting mirror includes a beam and a multilayer film supported by the beam, 
 wherein a gap is formed between the second reflecting mirror and the active layer, 
 wherein the multilayer film is arranged in-inside an opening formed in the beam, 
 wherein the multilayer film is arranged continuously from the opening to a portion around the opening and on top of the surface of the beam opposite to the surface facing the active layer, and 
 wherein a surface of the dielectric multilayer film facing the active layer protrudes from the opening toward a side of the active layer with respect to a surface of the beam facing the active layer.